U.S. Representative Kathleen Rice speaks during the 2015 Hofstra commencement ceremony held inside the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex on campus on Sunday, May 17, 2015. Photo Credit: Steve Pfost

U.S. Representative Kathleen Rice speaks during the 2015 Hofstra commencement ceremony held inside the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex on campus on Sunday, May 17, 2015. (Credit: Steve Pfost)

Class of 2015 Hofstra University

Number of undergraduate degrees: 1,264

Number of graduate degrees: 867

Morning commencement speaker:

Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-Garden City) Sunday, challenged graduates to surpass the Greatest Generation, not by doing what makes them happy but by following their passions.

"Do what makes you come alive," said Rice, the former Nassau County...

He said his wall was papered with rejection notices from newspapers as he tried to find his first job. After Sept. 11, he traveled to Afghanistan to report. "I didn't know what I was doing. I went anyway," he said.

He said while the country is politically divided, the country's founding fathers designed the system to have tension.

"The system is built for divisions. The founders meant for it to be difficult. They meant to divide power," he said. "They wanted decisions to be made by real consensus."

"My degree is going to help me understand cultures through an international lens, instead of just the lens of an American" said Garcia, of East Meadow, a diplomat at the United Nations who started attending college after a 30-year career in the U.S. Navy.

"Hofstra has been a really unique place ...," said Weinstein, of West Islip. He will be working this summer at the New York Renaissance Faire as part of the noble court cast and plans to get his master's in orchestral conducting.

Melissa Walsh, 21, exercise science

"I'm going to work at Disney World! It's a four-month program ...," said Walsh, of Bridgewater, New Jersey.